A REAL Solution

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Water Pokémon Master

Water Pokémon Master

I like Pokemon more than you! :p
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DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD UNLESS YOU READ EVERY SINGLE WORD.

The other day while cleaning my dorm building's laundry room after putting to much soap into the washer (which I had never used before), I was thinking about our n00b problem and came up with an idea.

What if we split the entire forum into age groups? 12 and under, 13 to 16, and 17+.

You can post in a lower age group, but you cannot post in a higher one (everyone can read all the forums, though). Thus, little kids would have a forum where they could learn how to use the forums without interfering in older forum members' affairs, and older members could talk among themselves without any problems.

We have a n00b problem, but I think it is completely understandable. I remember when I first came on to the internet - I was a n00b and was like 10 or whatever, and I had to learn the hard way. I did not understand the concept of a forum (just like how now, IRC confuses the heck out of me), and I had to get yelled at, e-bullied, etc. to learn. That is not the kind of place we are going to have no matter what anyone proposes, and I think it is much easier if we do it this way. When I read posts by "n00bs (young ones, that is - you older ones have no excuse)," I think of my youngest brother posting the comments, and I can understand why they are asking the questions they are asking and why they are posting the way they are. They are young and do not understand everything yet, and that's okay, but we shouldn't be sarcastic toward them or mean (usually), because they won't learn and will just be deterred, as I was.

The little kids will have their very own forum where they can ask their questions many of us consider to be "Duh" without having to be bullied and without clogging up older people's forums. Everyone would be around people their own age, with their level of competence, and with their level of TCG knowledge. This is what I think it would look like (for the first two age groups):


COMMUNITY FORUMS (all ages post together)
News Capsules
Wi-Fi League
Trading Corner
Site Discussion

HELP FORUMS
Forum Help and Questions
TCG Questions

TCG FORUMS
Deck Garage
Card Combos / Strategies
TCG Discussion
Organized Playing

POKEBEACH.COM
General Pokemon Discussion
Miscellaneous Discussion (?)
Animé Talk (?)
Fan Creations


The oldest forum (17+) would not help the two "Help" forums, and possibly not the "Anime Talk" forum, since not many old people (besides me) like the Anime and it would probably just be dead.

Now, here is the fun part. If you prove to us that you are "beyond your years," we will let you post in the older forums (not all 12 year olds act 12 - some act 16, or even 18). If you act like a little kid when you are not (in terms of the way you post and what you say and discuss), you will be put with people of your "smartness," and thus in younger forums (everyone develops in different intervals, so it is understandable sometimes).

The goal will be to act smarter so you can move up in rank, which should help the n00bs in wanting to improve.

All-in-all, though, I think this would be good for all age groups. The "older" forums could talk without distractions and grow (since we do not have many 17+ people due to the n00b problem scaring them away). The younger groups could ask questions without fear and learn so that they "graduate" to the higher forums.

This may also require us purging (restarting) the forums, but this will be discussed at a later time.

What do you guys think? Play the devil's advocate, too.
 
I like this idea, but, I'm playing the devil on this one.

Think of how many members there are. You will have to evalute each and every one of them.

How are you going to stop members from posting in certain forums?

And how are you going to know which members begin to act above their age? You will need mods to moderate them around the clock to know that. Also, the mods and yourself will have to check every post in every thread to determine which members switch "age groups".

Just a few things I thought of, but overall, nice idea, WPM! ;)
 
Overall, this concept seems like it would be successful. Since higher age groups would be able to post in the lower age group forums, it wouldn’t be n00bs learning from other n00bs. I especially like the part about allowing younger members into the higher age group forums since not all young members are n00bs. The same goes for older members (that have no excuse to act like a n00b) to be put into the lower age group forums.

The only problem I can see is the way how the age groups are being split into three. In my opinion, it should be two groups to eliminate confusion for where members are allowed to post. Additionally, since there aren’t many older members on our forums, I fear that the higher age group forums would be inactive (for the most part). Perhaps you should consider splitting the ages up into two categories, instead of three; with the age groups being 14 and under and 15+.
 
We only evaluate people who want to go into higher age groups, and they will have to submit something to do it. Plus, they will only be able to submit that they want to do it once every few months. Most people will remain in their age group.

We stop members from posting in forums by linking age groups to user groups. The software does it.
 
Great idea!

just so long as theres no REALLY LONG test to prove what age group you should be in, I'm all for it!
 
I agree.

1. (suggestion)I agree that it will force people to start posting intelligent. But, maybe there should be "bigger" award. Maybe people below 12 would be able to post threads in forums like "Forum Help and Questions" and "TCG Questions", but not answer them. That would force people, who think that they know enough to answer them, post more intelligent. That's just my suggestion.

2. (problem)There will be a problem, by knowing someone's real age. I know, that you (Administrator) can see everyone's age, but how about those, who said Age: 99 or something? Or did you mean the whole thing, that you would choose for each member, when they would be able to post in higher forums?

3. (question)Moderators/Super Moderators will be able to post in all of them, right? If not, then you may make moderators for each forums (12- moderator = someone, 12-16 moderator = someone else,...).

And ... yes I read every single word.

:F
 
I like three better, because that is the sense of faction I get when I read these forums. You have the little kids, the teenagers, and the adults. It would be painfully obvious which forum they would need to post in - everything is labeled.

The adult forum would be inactive at first, yes. However, once we shed our reputation of being "n00by," people will come back and join the adult forum once they see people are discussing things at their age level without topics that do not.

Also, one thing I forgot to mention: If you do not set your birthday, you are automatically in the youngest group. If you lie about your age and it shows, you will be adjusted accordingly. Demoting people will take no longer than a few clicks.
 
i don't really like the idea.... i have an idea but it is from another forum... why not appoint a new member to a non noob member, the member shows the new person what to do and what not to do, sends them the newbey guide to read, and answer any questions they have, plus the new member makes a friend on the sight... what about that ???
 
^ In a perfect world, that would work. This isn't a perfect world.

Another thing I forgot! Some people would be "teachers" as their usergroup and would help the younger people in their questions and in guiding them. That's why older people can post in younger forums - so kids can learn and the adults can set an example. Eventually, they'd return the favor (in a perfect world...).
 
There is one more thing that I noticed. What about the Clans and Clubs forum? Since every age group is active in that forum, I suppose it would be placed in the Community Forums.

As for each of the ages being split up into three, how will the forums vary between the age groups? From what I can see, most of our current forums would be placed in the Community Forums.
 
KG, I was going to suggest the same ages groups. I think that once you reach the age of 14-15, you're old enough to participate in the discussions older people have. 15+ is an age category in the PTCG anyways.

If we do this, you'd have to find a way to:
Force people to enter their Birthday. (upon joining, and when the person 1st logs on after this system is operational)
Disable the changing of your Birthday without requesting.
Enable a decent system for younger members to move up.

And still, people would enter a false age. Although I doubt a 10-year old can keep it a secret, so it all seems fine there.
 
Water Pokémon Master said:
^ In a perfect world, that would work. This isn't a perfect world.

Another thing I forgot! Some people would be "teachers" as their usergroup and would help the younger people in their questions and in guiding them. That's why older people can post in younger forums - so kids can learn and the adults can set an example. Eventually, they'd return the favor (in a perfect world...).
Click to expand...

Those "teachers" would be like Strategists? Members that showed that they are intelligent enough to be one. Like "Staff member" with no powers (Strategists don't have any powers, do they)? Yes, I like the idea, if you meant it that way.

:F
 
Kevin Garrett said:
There is one more thing that I noticed. What about the Clans and Clubs forum? Since every age group is active in that forum, I suppose it would be placed in the Community Forums.
Click to expand...

The community forums are places where age cannot be a issue, since it requires interaction among many people or age does not really matter. Forums that CAN have different levels of thought (such as TCG, games, etc.) would be age-separated. A deck posted in 10- won't be the same as one posted in 17+, and same goes for gaming teams and other types of levels of discussion.

Don't worry about software issues. We're not talking about that.

The system for younger people to move up will be determined later, but it won't be anything crazy hard for us or them.
 
Actually, I quite like the idea, generally noobs are younger than most members, yet people like MagicMew, Ketchup and Mustard could post in older ones :). Though I'd obviously be in the lowest possible for life.
 
The levels of discussion and what is discussed by members are important - not just anyone can move up.
 
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